Features

Special focus: What's in store for buying and selling in 2025

It’s not just the the big groups which are seizing opportunities to buy. The vast majority of purchasers are ‘micro-consolidators’. Leah Jones takes stock of the acquisitions market by talking to some of its key movers.
RDK's Andrew Steen at Nursery World's last Business Dinner at the Ivy Club in London.

Thile 2024 represented a period of stability, the sector can now look forward to a renewed push of activity. NW speaks to the experts to unpick the trends.

Arun Kanwar, managing partner at Cairneagle

We’ve seen pretty good stability over the last year, and capacity increasing. This is likely because there is an improving set of conditions allowing nurseries to build for the future, so the margins are starting to improve, which creates a more attractive environment to invest in the sector.

Demand has started to be stimulated by the expanded funding offer, and rates for the under-threes are good, which is helping people to recover some of their lost margins, and the recruitment and retention crisis isn’t as bad as it was.

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